newsletter signup

Elan Black Magic QT (2014)

Black Magic QT

Elan

2014

price$650

YEAR2013/2014

WAIST WIDTH100mm

TIP/TAIL/WAIST119-72-100

LEVELIntermediate

LENGTHS140, 146, 152, 158

Get a FREE SKI subscription with your order

With a narrow 72-mm waist and grippy WaveFlex topsheet construction (see below), the Black Magic is targeted at women who stick to the trails at medium speeds and aggressiveness. It's a forgiving cap construction on a lightweight core that combines wood stringers (for responsiveness and durability) with foam (for economy and weight savings).
The W Studio collection is a broad range of groomer-oriented women's skis, including a race-ready hard-snow carver, three women's versions of the men's Amphibio skis, three non-Amphibio models with women's-specific versions of Elan's Waveflex topsheet torsion-resistant topsheet structure, and two value-oriented cap constructions for novices. The race-ready Speed Magic Fusion is a version of the men's Ripstick, an edgy, powerful construction for high-speed arcing on firm, flat snow, with Elan's Fusion binding interface, in which the binding is integrated into the core for enhanced quickness and power transmission. The Amphibio skis - Interra, Insomnia and Inspire - also feature the Fusion system. The non-Amphibio models - Delight and Black Magic - feature both feature a less pronounced, more forgiving version of the Waveflex structure. At the low end, two simple cap constructions - Zest and Snow - are built for light weight and affordability.
On Waveflex models, the top of the ski from the core up has a series of structural waves designed to make the ski stiffer laterally yet still supple-flexing longitudinally (think corrugated carbord: easy to bend in one direction, rigid in the other).
Amphibio skis are optimized to be right- and left-foot specific, designed so that they'll always be edgier on the outside (downhill) ski, where power and solidity is most needed; looser and easier to feather on the inside ski, for easy line adjustment. The inside edge of each ski is fully cambered, for maximum effective edge length. The outside edge is tip-rockered, so it's more buoyant and easier to pivot, with a shorter effective edge.
On the Speed Magic, Elan further enhances outside-ski edging power with a strategically shaped carbon/glass laminate over the inside edge - an elongated crescent running from tip to tail, widest underfoot, called PowerSpine.